Saturday’s Cold

The fine hairs around Issachar’s nose and mouth were beaded with ice.  He must have recently taken a drink from the water bucket.  The breath froze on the nostrils of the rest of the sheep, creating white chevrons against the back skin.

On Friday night Jon and I slept downstairs.  Even with the electric baseboard and electric blanket,  it was too cold upstairs.  The wind seeping through the uninsulated walls and frosting the interior window mullions.

We slept in flannel nightshirts and hats the fan from the wood stove blowing warm all night.  Bud spent half the night on Jon’s lap as he slept in his chair and the other half on the couch,  curled around my feet.

Three blankets deep I missed the warmth of Jon’s body next to mine.

I dressed in layers, a scarf wrapped around my face.  It was 20 below but the wind had stopped by the time I went out to feed the animals.  The moisture from my breath froze on my eyelashes, making them stick when I blinked.

But the water flowed from the frost-free pump wrapped in an electric heat tape. And the heated water buckets kept all the animals in warm water.

It didn’t take long for my fingers to get numb in my gloves.  I left mucking out the barn for the afternoon.  The sheep and donkeys were hungry and a bit more eager for their grain, but otherwise didn’t appear affected by the cold.

These temperatures wouldn’t last for days or weeks as they have in the past. By the afternoon the thermometer would reach zero degrees and keep climbing.

Still, Jon and I spent most of the day inside.  We read and took pictures, Jon blogged and I made soup, we kept the woodstoves going.  Zinnia begged to be out rolling in the snow and Bud only stayed out long enough to do his business before running back to the house.

We’d all get used to the sub-zero weather if it lasted longer.  But today the sun is out and by the afternoon it will be above freezing.

A good day for a walk in the woods.